Tanner Roark
Tanner Burnell Roark is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland Athletics, and Toronto Blue Jays. He played college baseball at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Professional career
Southern Illinois Miners
Roark played one season with the Southern Illinois Miners of the independent Frontier League in 2008. In 3 games, he was 0–2 with a 21.41 ERA. In just 9.2 innings, he gave up 23 hits along with 25 runs while striking out 11.Texas Rangers
Roark was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 25th round of the 2008 MLB draft. He began his professional career with the rookie ball AZL Rangers, and also appeared with the Single-A Bakersfield Blaze. In 2009, Roark split the year between Bakersfield and the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders, pitching to a cumulative 11-1 record and 3.02 ERA with 100 strikeouts. He was assigned to Frisco to begin the 2010 season.Washington Nationals
On July 31, 2010, he was traded, along with Ryan Tatusko, to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Cristian Guzmán.In 2011, he was promoted to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, and posted, in 28 games an unremarkable 6–17 record, but he posted a 4.39 ERA with 7.9 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per nine innings. He began the 2012 season in Syracuse as a starter, then joined the bullpen for 20 relief appearances. Roark moved back to the rotation and had the best stretch of his career, allowing only 12 earned runs over innings in eight starts.
Image:Roark-vs-NYM-20151004.jpg|thumb|left|Roark pitching at Citi Field against the New York Mets in 2015
On August 6, 2013, Roark was called up to the MLB for the first time, and on the next day pitched two innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit. By the end of August he had appeared in nine games in relief, allowing earned runs only twice, and compiling an ERA of 1.19 over innings. On September 7, Roark made his first major league start against the Miami Marlins, pitching six innings, allowing no runs and four hits, no walks, and four strikeouts, getting the win. Roark's dominance continued with a September 17 start against the rival Atlanta Braves in which he pitched seven innings and allowed no runs on just three baserunners. His ERA dropped to 1.08 in innings. He finished 7–1 in 14 games.
On April 26, 2014, Roark threw his first career complete-game shutout, allowing only 3 hits in a 4–0 win over the San Diego Padres. In 31 starts, Roark finished 15–10 with a 2.85 ERA in innings.
In 2015, Roark was shifted to the bullpen after the team acquired a few starting pitchers. In 40 games, Roark finished 4–7 with an ERA of 4.38 in 111 innings.
Roark was added back to the starting rotation in 2016, and he responded by establishing a career bests in wins, ERA, innings and strikeouts. Additionally, he gave up the lowest percentage of hard-hit balls of any qualified starter that year.
In 2017, Roark went 13–11 despite posting a career-worst 4.67 ERA in 32 games. He struck out 166 batters in innings.
In 2018, Roark went 9–15 with a 4.34 ERA in innings.
Cincinnati Reds
On December 12, 2018, the Nationals traded Roark to the Cincinnati Reds for Tanner Rainey. On January 11, 2019, the Reds signed Roark to a one-year contract worth $10 million, avoiding arbitration.In 2019, Roark went 6–7 with a 4.24 ERA in 110.1 innings prior to being traded to the Oakland Athletics on July 31, 2019.
Oakland Athletics
On July 31, 2019, the Reds traded Roark to the Oakland Athletics for Jameson Hannah. In 2019, he allowed the highest line drive percentage of all major league pitchers. He became a free agent following the season.Toronto Blue Jays
On December 18, 2019, Roark signed a two-year contract worth $24 million with the Toronto Blue Jays. With the 2020 Toronto Blue Jays, Roark appeared in 11 games, compiling a 2–3 record with 6.80 ERA and 41 strikeouts in innings pitched.Roark pitched to a 6.43 ERA in three games for Toronto in 2021, allowing seven runs in as many innings, before being designated for assignment on April 30, 2021. On May 3, the Blue Jays released Roark.